Poll panel reviews vote count arrangements

The Election Commission on Friday took stock of the arrangements for counting of votes Saturday across the country.

The Election Commission on Friday took stock of the arrangements for counting of votes Saturday across the country.

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Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Navin Chawla and Election Commissioners S.Y. Quraishi and V.S. Sampath spoke to the chief electoral officers (CEOs) of states through video-conferencing.

"The CEC and ECs have taken stock of counting arrangements in all states and union territories through video-conferencing with all CEOs here today,” the commission said in a statement.

"The CEC reviewed (arrangements) on the basis of a detailed check list prepared by the commission and directed the CEOs to follow it strictly," it said.

Chawla also reviewed security arrangements for the electronic voting machines (EVMs), the poll panel said.

Counting will start throughout the country at 8 a.m., the commission said.

There are 1,080 counting centres in the country and an estimated 60,000 employees have been deployed for the exercise.

There are 8,070 candidates and more than 700 parties seeking election in an exercise conducted through 1.36 million EVMs at 828,000 polling stations spread across 28 states and seven union territories. The five-phase general elections started April 16 and concluded May 13.